 History of Northern Europe to the beginning of the 14th century by Hans Putz, from a history of all nations from the earliest times, volume 9, the age of feudalism and theocracy, translated under the supervision of John Henry Wright. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recorded by Pieternatter. The civilization of the Age of Charlemagne was already decaying. When the North German or Scandinavian tribes first entered upon history, these were split up into as many political groups as there were tribes. Fitted by their surroundings for a seafaring life, the Norman and Danish Vikings had for generations been the terror of the Frankish kingdom. They had founded prosperous states on both sides of the English Channel and in southern Italy. They had likewise settled in Byzantium and, at the beginning of the Crusades, taken an active part in the affairs of Asia Minor. They had tenaciously preserved certain salient features, but had otherwise adapted themselves with surprising skill to their new surroundings and thus developed a new and peculiar national type which acted as a stimulus on their neighbors. The introduction of Christianity among the northern Germans marks a decisive stage in their development. Its beginnings are coupled with a name of Ansgar, whom Louis de Pius sent out as a missionary. The final triumph of the mission is due to Archbishopric of Hamburg Bremen. As in other countries, the change of faith in Scandinavia brought about disturbing social and political changes. Here Christianization led to the extinction of the ancient popular freedom and of the independent life of the tribes. The old folk freedom met with a heavy blow when the old tribal kingships disappeared in the 9th and 10th centuries and were replaced by vast territorial kingdoms. A system of social orders, similar to the Romano-German feudal system, took its place in many cases. But everywhere the kingship claimed increased power, which was gradually recognized. Many emigrated, who found the ecclesiastical and political innovations unbearable. This led to remarkable settlement in Iceland, in which the primeval Germanic conceptions of law, state, morals, language, poetry and legend were to lead such a wonderful second life far into historic times. The Scandinavian invasion of the West Frankish Kingdom and of England did not come to an end until the 10th century, about the time of Henry I of Germany. One of his contemporaries was Harold Harfager, fair-haired, who died in 933. After the defeat of the provincial princes, he united Norway under his sway. Another contemporary of Henry was Gorm de Olde, died in 936, who first gave the Danes political union and became so dangerous a neighbor to the German king that the latter's victory over him was considered particularly glorious. It took the royal house of England longer to overthrow the under-kings in Sweden. Erik de Victorious succeeded in the main in doing so in the second half of the 10th century. In this period Christianity was established in Scandinavia, but was more than once forced back by the heathen reaction. Intermittent conflicts broke out between the closely related nations. In these fierce intestinal wars the strength of paganism gradually broke down and decided the victory of Christianity, which opened Scandinavia to the influence of the German Romance civilization of the European West. The reign of Canyud de Great, 1014-1035, who ruled over Denmark, Norway and England, marks a great stage in the development of the North. But the king could not ensure the undivided continuance of his vast kingdom after his death. However, after he had definitely won Denmark for Christianity, the victory of that religion in the other Scandinavian kingdoms was only a question of time. Not that it immediately proved strong enough to curb the uncontrollable native savageness of the royal house. In short, at first it affected only a mixture of unreconciled old and new institutions. The history of Denmark especially bears witness to this fact. After manifold struggles during which Norway again became independent, Canyud's nephew, Svein Estridsson, had succeeded to the throne of Denmark. He organised the Danish Church by erecting and making provision for a native bishopric. Religiously inclined, he lacked his uncle's military virtues. His attempt to win back England proved a failure, nor could he shake off his feudal dependence on Germany. The country reaped little advantage from the rule of Svein's five sons. That of the youngest, Niels, was particularly disastrous to the royal house, because his son Magnus brought on a family feud by murdering his cousin Canyud Lavard. The latter was the second son of the deceased king, Erik Eingod, his successful administration of Schleswig and his close alliance with the German king Lothar, who had bestowed the land of the Vents on Canyud as a thief, and crowned him king of the Abodriti, aroused the mistrust of his weak uncle Niels. His son Magnus killed Canyud Lavard on Christmas 1131. Erik, the brother of the slain man, took up arms to avenge his death. In vain King Niels besought Lothar to protect him, although he rendered homage to the German king and paid him tribute. After an enforced absence, Erik appeared in Scania in 1134 and won a decisive victory. Footnote Scania is the old name for the southern extremity of the present Sweden. It was usually a part of Denmark until 1658. And footnote Magnus fell, and Niels was afterwards slain by the enraged people of Schleswig. Erik Amund's reign, 1134 to 1137, was no less disastrous than his predecessors. He was also murdered three years after his accession. A furious dynastic conflict and civil war ensued. Finally, Erik III the Lamb, 1137 to 1147 triumphed over the rival climates of the crown. Despite his son's feign, 1147 to 1157, arose the pretender Canyud, the son of Magnus. The ensuing civil war threatened to split up Denmark into several small states. Conrad III of Germany was too weak to interfere. But Saxony, under the wealth Henry the Lion, returned to its national task of Christianizing and Germanizing the Venn provinces. And this Henry met such success that Denmark exchanged the protection of the German king for that of the Saxon duke. Thus Denmark became more of a Saxon than a German province. At the diet of Meeresburg, in May 1152, both pretenders appeared before King Frederick I. Canyud came with his protector Henry the Lion, and Svein with Archbishop Hartwig of Bremen. The German king decided in favor of Svein, who received Denmark as a German thief. In his turn, Svein had to invest Canyud with Zeeland. Young Waldemar, the son of Canyud Lavard, received an independent principality in southern Newtland. But the animosity engendered by the late bloody feuds soon set this arrangement at naught. The opposition was strongest against Svein. He could not ward off the Slavonic pirates, and finally preferred to buy the protection of the duke of Saxony. This disgrace was made more insufferable by the king's wastefulness. As a result, Canyud and Waldemar were proclaimed kings in Newtland. When Svein attacked them, his soldiers deserted him, and he had to flee to Germany. With the aid of the Venns and the Saxon duke, he succeeded in having his lands partly restored to him. According to agreement, Svein was to retain Skanja, but Canyud was to rule in Zeeland, and Waldemar on the mainland. At a festival celebrated in Roskilde in honor of the reconciliation, Svein took his two cousins by surprise. Canyud was killed, but Waldemar escaped with his wounds to his Yutish followers. They rose to support their king. On his pursuing Waldemar, Svein was defeated in 1157 and killed in flight. As the 20 years war ended, and King Waldemar I, 1157 to 1182, found recognition everywhere. Waldemar was a prince of ambitious spirit, great insight and ability. He recognized the needs of his people, and was fortunate in the choice of his means to satisfy them. His amiable personality made King Waldemar beloved, and enabled him during his long reign to restore his kingdom. As he was not strong enough to beat off the Vans, he had to accept Henry the Lion as his feudal lord. He fought as his vassal against them, only to leave almost all the conquests to the Saxon. When Waldemar conquered Trügen alone, in 1168 the Duke claimed half the booty, and went so far as to expose the Danish coasts to the Vans in order to enforce his claim. It was not until Henry had become embroiled with the German emperor that Waldemar could make his land more independent and let the feudal tie fall. He found a faithful helpmate in the politic and soldierly bishop Absalon of Roskilde, the later Archbishop of Lund. From the ecclesiastical side he furthered Danish independence, although his repressive economic measures caused a peasant revolt. It was Waldemar's policy to await developments in the struggle between Henry the Lion and Frederick I. When he saw that Saxon was definitely crushed, he espoused the cause of the emperor and assisted him at the siege of Lübeck. When Waldemar I died, in 1182 he left Denmark much more powerful than he had found it. The succession of his son canued the 6th, 1182 to 1202, however met with some popular opposition. But the clergy and nobility succeeded in beating it down. The old democratic forms of government began to fall into abeyance, and Denmark developed into a hereditary monarchy limited by the estates. Canued no longer recognized the feudal suzerainty of Germany. To maintain his independent position, the Danish king constantly opposed the Hohenstaufens. An instance is his joining the League of the German Princes against Henry VI to avenge the murder of the Bishop of Liege. He likewise eventually favored the intrigues of the welves for their restoration. Canued subjugated Pomerania, which Henry the Lion had failed to do in 1184 and 1185. The king could henceforth adopt the style of a king of the Danes and the Vents. During the contest for the throne which followed the death of Henry VI in Germany, he thought ultimately to get possession of the German districts on the right bank of the Elbe. In 1200 the Danish king made Adolfus III of Schäuemberg, the Count of Holstein, surrender Dietmarschen and the strong fortress of Rendsburg. Taking advantage of the internal conflicts of the nobility of Holstein, the Danes broke into the land in the autumn of 1201 and conquered it. Adolfus was finally captured and imprisoned in a fortress on Zeeland. Germany thus lost her Trans-Elban lands, and as the Counts of Mecklenburg joined Canude, the lifework of Henry the Lion was annihilated. The future of the Slavonic Countries lay in the hands of the Danes, from whom the rich lands on the Baltic could now scarcely escape. The execution of these plans of conquest fell to Waldemar, a brother of the king, as he had died without leaving a son. After the second, 1202 to 1241, later called the Victorious, was not only king of the Danes and Slavs. To his other titles he added that of Lord of Nordalbinga, for Count Adolfus III finally ransomed himself by the surrender of Holstein and the installation of a Danish garrison in Lauenburg. The German War of Succession secured Waldemar in his dominions for some years, but the rise of the unified kingdom under Otto IV, after Philip's assassination, filled the Danish king with anxiety about the maintenance of the Trans-Elban lands. By a skilful stroke of diplomacy he went over to Otto, who, unmindful of national interests, recognized the Danish right to these lands and made them independent of the empire. The Baltic seemed about to become a Danish sea. Mars crusade against the Estonians in 1219 resulted in the conquest of an important post on the east of the Baltic. To be sure, the king's national schemes of conquest did not achieve such lasting results as the Order of the Brothers of the Sword were then winning in Livonia and the neighboring provinces, or the Order of Teutonic Knights achieved later in Heathen Prussia. It was a blessing for the German kingdom, in its intestinal disorders, that the flower of German chivalry could take into its hands the propagation of Christianity and civilization in these districts. The German knights and nobility also called a halt on the Danish power and rescued the Elbe lands and Pomerania, which the crown itself had forfeited. It was Count Henry of Schwerin, however, who took the final step. He captured the Danish king by stratagem and recovered his land. Then, together with the other East German princes and Counts, he gained a decisive victory over the Danish king at Bornhüvet. Holstein II now returned to Count Adolfus IV of Schauenburg, and the German ports above all Hamburg and Bremen rose to new prosperity. For centuries the German element predominated in the Baltic provinces. This predominance was completely assured by the decay of the Danish power. Aldemar II, who had spent his last years in enacting beneficial legislation, died in very old age in 1241. His second son, Eric, called Plowpenny, 1241 to 1250, succeeded. His oppression enraged the peasants and clergy, especially as his forced subsidies did not lead to victory. Consequently his position soon became dangerous, on his falling out with his brother Abel. The latter had received Schleswig from his father, and his father-in-law, Adolfus IV of Schauenburg, conferred the regency in Holstein on him at his retirement to a monastery. He strenuously defended the four sons of Adolfus against the claims of the Danish king. At a meeting in Drennsburg, Abel had his brother seized and put on ship port. Here, Aldemar was murdered. A few months later, Abel celebrated his coronation in Roskilde, on which occasion representatives from Danish cities first appeared with the clergy and nobility. Abel sought to strengthen his throne by a popular government. Consequently his short reign, 1250 to 1252, was beneficial to a constitution which was soon to be tested. For after Abel had been slain in a battle with the Frisians, and his son had been made captive by the Archbishop of Cologne on his return from his studies at Paris, the Danish magnates chose the late king's brother, Christopher, as his successor. His reign, 1252 to 1259, was very turbulent on account of his fierce conflict with the clergy. During its course the Archbishop of Lund excommunicated the king and laid the interdict on Denmark. The ensuing ecclesiastical distress drove the hard-pressed peasants to armed revolt. In the midst of the terrors of a peasants' war the king suddenly died in 1259. It was rumoured that a fanatical priest had administered poison to him in the Eucharist. Nevertheless the regent Margaret, his mother, secured the succession to her minor son. The struggle with the episcopate was concluded only by the death of the Archbishop of Lund in 1274. Northwithstanding the crown had forfeited its influence over the church, which rose to proud independence with the nobility. In the ensuing war with his brother Eric, who claimed Schleswig by right of inheritance, the king and his mother were long held captive by the rebels. They stripped the king more and more of his rights and domains, while his chief officials gradually formed an almost independent council. When King Eric in November 1285 was assassinated, his minor son, Eric Menvet, was allowed to succeed, but the latter, in turn, was soon subjected to humiliation by the unhappy outcome of the war to which the escaped murderers of his father had incited the Norwegian king. The king's struggle with John Grant, Archbishop of Lund, was still more disastrous. After having escaped from prison, the Archbishop invoked the aid of Boniface VIII. The pope decided against the king. From Eric's refusal to submit to the pope's arbitration, Boniface excommunicated him until he finally submitted. A Norwegian war, which Eric had undertaken in behalf of the expelled Swedish king, Birger II, ended in disgrace, and only led to further alienation of the crown domain and to oppressive taxation. The king's attempt to reduce the German Baltic provinces also proved a failure. Accordingly, when the king died in 1319, he left his office stripped of esteem and power. As he had left no sons, the feudal nobility found convenient means for extending their influence in the coming election. To secure their innovations, they had to promise the cities and peasants a part of the spoils wrong from the crown. For Eric's brother, Christopher II, 1320 to 1326, had to buy his election with a formal capitulation, which recognized as legal the existing narrow limitations of the royal office. Every succeeding king was to be bound to confirm them. This charter of January 2nd, 1320 not only confirmed to the clergy its rights and liberties, but also made the levying of tithes dependent on its consent and established its exemption from temporal jurisdiction. The charter freed the nobility from the duty of foreign military service and confirmed all its rights as against its subjects and vassals. The king's right to make war was to be conditional on the consent of the clergy and nobility. The enfiefment of Germans and their admittance into the royal council were prohibited, as well as the granting of church offices to foreigners. The concessions which the charter made to the burgers and peasants were naturally much more meager. It promised the former undisturbed trade and security from ill legal dues. The latter got protection from the oppression of royal bilates and the abrogation of unjust services. In general, this Danish magnacarta contained the guarantee of justice on the basis of the law of the land. To secure this, an appeal was to lay from the king's court to the diet as the highest court. The fourth new laws were to be issued only with the consent of the prelates and nobles in parliament assembled. Thus, the feudal reaction made itself felt even in the north and reduced the royal office to dependence. The two other Scandinavian countries play a less important part in the history of the time. Much later than in Denmark, the monarchical principle triumphed over the remains of the primeval German organization. The descendants of Harold Harfager had many conflicts for the crown of Norway. Repeatedly, several ruled the whole kingdom conjointly or divided it according to the old racial divisions. The result was a constant diminution of the royal right, which gave the clergy especially a disproportionate predominance. After King Magnus at the end of the 12th century had fixed by law that the prelates should decide which of the royal princes should ascend the throne two parties arose. The clergy and their adherents formed the so-called buglets, that is, cruisier bearers. The national party, on the other hand, took the name of birch legs. For almost a century these parties rent the country with their antagonism. When the clergy lost its predominance in the second half of the 13th century, order finally returned. This enabled royalty to rise again from the days of King Hakon V, the old, 1217 to 1263, who added Greenland and Iceland to his domains. At the same time the German Hanseatic merchants settled in Bergen, which became the foremost northern trading center. Hakon's son, Magnus VI, 1263 to 1280 secured the restored order by introducing the principle of primogeniture in the succession. Still the prelates formed a sort of state within a state, because they were not only exempt from all temporal jurisdiction and military duties, but also had the exclusive appointment of their bishops and other officers. The son of Magnus, Eric, 1281 to 1299 first put an end to this evil. He forced the clergy to pay him homage and to render their share of military duties. Eric was followed by his son Hakon VI, 1299 to 1319, who was the last of the House of Harald Harfagr. By opening the succession to the female line, with the consent of the diet, he paved the way for the future union of Norway and Sweden. The history of Sweden, to the close of the 13th century, consists of a long line of civil conflicts, feudal struggles, and throne revolutions. Here too the primary result was the irksome predominance of the war-like nobility, which curtailed the royal power as well as the old freedom of the lower classes. Even the mighty Erl, Berger, who had virtually ruled Sweden for his brother-in-law, Eric Ericsson, and after the king's death without issue, in 1250 had had his own eldest son Valdemar, 1251 to 1275, proclaimed king, could not establish lasting peace. Berger died in 1266, after he had laid the foundation of the later Stockholm, and opened up Swedish trade by the admission of the German Hanseatic League into Sweden. Thereupon the younger brothers of Valdemar rose against him and drove him to Norway, in 1275. While trying to regain his kingdom, the Swedish king fell into the hands of his brothers, who made away with him. King Magnus, 1275 to 1290, held his own against the noble insurgents only by force and treachery. He sought to curb them through severe laws, and particularly to shield the peasants from them. With this in view he tried to raise the position and influence on the church. When he died he appointed the marshal Torkel Knudson, regent for his minor son Berger. After Berger II, 1290 to 1317 had begun to rule, Torkel remained the most influential man about the throne. Sweden now advanced rapidly, Finland was conquered and Christianized, but the taxes which these wars necessitated waited heavily on the people. The younger brothers of the king used the prevailing discontent to raise a rebellion which brought about the dismissal of the all-powerful marshal. Soon after the king was taken by treachery, but released at the request of his brother in law, King Erik Menvet of Denmark. The conflict soon broke out anew, and Berger II had to concede the independent rule of certain districts to his brother and be content with the royal title. But he planned revenge. Instigated by his Danish queen, he surprised Erik and Waldemar in 1317 and led them starve to death in prison. This deed caused a general uprising, which drove Berger to Denmark. His accomplices were killed by their enemies, who did not spare the king's son. A diet, consisting in part of representatives from the cities and peasantry, then made Magnus the three-year-old nephew of Berger king. Through his mother, he was a grandson of Hakon of Norway, which gave him hereditary claims to that kingdom. Since the feudal dependence of Denmark on Germany had fallen into a balance, the influence of German civilization was brought to bear on the northern kingdoms more and more by the north German seaports. Their confederation, which had reached far into the interior, was called the Hanseatic League. Hamburg and Lübeck had set the example in 1241 by making an alliance to protect trade and commerce in the district between the Elbe and Trave. The origin of the Hanseatic League, however, is shrouded in darkness. It seems that several city confederacies bound together by community of foreign trade gradually coalesced into one great league. Its name, Hanza, did not come into use until the middle of the 14th century. This name belonged only to the Cologne merchants, who, under Henry III, established a factory, or guild hall, in London. For a time Cologne retained its leading position, and its Allied Westfalyan cities, together with the Prussian ones, formed a separate group of the Hanseatic League. Lübeck formed a second group, at the head of the Vendish and Pomeranian cities. Visby, at the head of the cities of Livonia, formed the last one. But Lübeck surpassed all the other cities of the League. It was the chief market of the Baltic coast as early as the 13th century, for all the interior towns were dependent on it. This found expression in the almost universal acceptance of the Lübeck Code of Laws. Even the Prussian city of Cologne adopted this code in a modified form, which spread to the extreme northeast. The unity of legal conceptions rising therefrom contributed largely to strengthen the community of the cities, based on their economic life. This bound especially Rostock, Wiesmar, Strahlsund and Greifswald, Städting, Anklam, Stargart, Dämin and Kohlberg to Lübeck. The tie spread later to Danzig, Dierschau, Elbing, Brunsberg, Königsberg, Mehmel and other towns. Visby, on the island of Gotland, was at this time the most important centre of the Baltic trade. As early as 1225, long before the origin of the Hanseatic League, a corporation of German merchants existed there. It was the oldest of its kind, and was later called the Gotlandic Corporation. German merchants had also settled in Riga, the chief town of Livonia. Thence they had penetrated the interior of Russia, where the Gotlandic Corporation had an important staple at Petrhof. But toward the close of the 13th century, this body gradually lost its leading position in that quarter. This fell to the rising power of Lübeck, which stepped to the head of the Hanseatic League. It now exercised fully the rights and duties of its position. It called the meetings, or Hanse days, of the League, and directed their proceedings. Likewise, it carried on correspondence and negotiations in the name of the League with foreign powers. These meetings regulated all the internal affairs of the Hanseatic League, such as commerce, and also had legislative functions. Short records of the proceedings were kept, which grew in fullness with the increased importance of the body. They were later known as the Hansarecesse, and are a precious source of the history of this remarkable union, which alone made the German name respected abroad during the 13th and 14th centuries. The Scandinavian countries especially, which were not as yet in a position to utilize their rich resources through their own energy, finally fell into economic and political dependence on the militant German merchants. In Sweden, into which the Jarl Birger first admitted the Hanseatic League, Stockholm soon became its chief center. On the coast of Skania its merchants had profitable fisheries. In Denmark the German merchants first settled in Copenhagen, in the street, which still bears their name. They also had stores in various neighboring places. In Norway the center of the League was at Bergen. At first Cologne had had a large part of the English trade, but later on the towns on the North Sea, and especially Hamburg and Bremen, competed with it. Hamburg finally surpassed them all. In London the stores and dwellings of the salesmen of the League were called the Steelyard, and lay between the Thams and Thams Street. These merchants, who had to be unmarried, and fell into groups of masters and apprentices, lived according to a monastic rule. They enjoyed the special favor of the English kings, and granted them all sorts of privileges and liberties, asking in return only for their support in case of an attack on London. The Hanseatic League had similar stations in Ipswich, Jarmuth, Norwich, Lynn, Boston, Hull and York. They also took route in Ireland and Scotland. After Lübeck came to represent the League, the German Baltic towns took a more active part in the English trade. Thus the leading role, first of Cologne and then of Hamburg, was transferred more and more to Lübeck. The connection of the League with the Netherlands, and especially Flanders, was no less profitable. Here again Cologne had at first had the greatest share, but in the second half of the 13th century Hamburg and Lübeck became strong competitors here also. The chief Hanseatic settlement in Flanders was Bruges, which continued for some time to be the most important European trading center north of the Alps. The League had also stores in Hent, Antwerp, Dinal, Ypres and Damm. The Baltic and North Seas were really German seas at the time. Not only Russia, but also Scandinavia and England, were in commercial and maritime dependence on the German merchant. But such a power combination as the Hanseatic League could arise, throws a peculiar light on the condition of the declining empire. It led to relations which are quite impossible in a well-organized state. It was nothing unusual for imperial cities to make independent treaties with foreign powers, and the princes of the empire did the same. Now some towns also belonged to the Hanseatic League, which were subject to a prince and consequently ought to have been represented by him. But these towns acted as independently as their fellows. Nothing but conflict could ensue between the towns and their lords, and widen the old gulf between the citizens and the feudal powers. This appeared nowhere more strikingly than in the state which the Teutonic Order had founded in Prussia. This religious military order completed the benefits conferred on the northeast of Europe by the Hanseatic League. The Teutonic Order was founded at a time when the crusading spirit was at its height in Germany. It had entered the competition too late to achieve the success of the Knights Templar or those of Saint John in Palestine, but it was this fact which enabled it to preserve its original spirit and fulfill its double mission. For this order was characterized still more than the other military ones by that strange amalgamation of chivalry and monasticism which determined its direction and success. Thanks to this quality, and to its far-seeing grandmasters, this order succeeded in founding an epoch-making civic organism. The original dependence of the Teutonic Knights on the Hospitallers soon fell into abeyance. Confirmed by Pope Innocent III in 1199 the order first sought to gain a foothold in the Holy Land. Through grants, exchange, and sale it acquired considerable lands in the neighborhoods of Beirut, Torren, and Acre. To the northeast of the last named city, it erected among the hills its strongly fortified chief seat, Montfort, or Starkenburg. The difficulties of its early conditions explained the diligence of its administration which afterwards enabled the order to win its successes. But its future did not lie in the east, even if it were possible to hold up the tottering Christian rule against the onslaught of the Infidel. The third grandmaster of the Teutonic Order, Hermann von Salca, 1211-1235, the friend and counsellor of Emperor Frederick II recognized this, therefore he sought another scene where the knights might devote themselves to the crusade against the heathen. Just about this time Conrad, Duke of Mazovia in Poland sought aid against the heathen Prussians. For the attempts of the Cistercian monastery of Oliva to convert the warlike race beyond the Vistula had had no lasting results. As a reward, the Duke offered the order the district around Kulm, generally called Kulmland. Its conquests were to be ruled solely by the order. After an examination of Kulmland, Hermann von Salca accepted the Duke's proposal and had the emperor and pope solemnly ratify the grant. Then he sent a detachment of knights in 1228 under his representative Hermann Balk to the lands of the Vistula. From the castle of Vogelsand on its left bank they began their skirmishes. Not until 1232 did they settle on the right, or Prussian bank of the Vistula. On its heights they erected their first fortress, Toron, the present Thorn. Many other names of places familiar to the order in Palestine were in like manner given to Prussian towns. In 1234 the reinforced knights won a great victory over the Prussians near the River Zorge. Soon many crusaders who preferred to fight nearer home joined the settlement of the order. They were generally used for greater invasions, during which the invaders hastily built strongholds. From these as a center the garrisons remaining gradually subjugated their neighbors. Thus the conquest of Pommesania was directed from Marian Verder. During the course of the Vistula the knights invaded Pommesania, and there built the chief stronghold of the order Elbing, from which the neighboring Frischeshav offered convenient communication with the east. On its coast arose the mighty towering castle of Balga, from which southern ermland was brought under the yoke of the Teutonic order. The basis for its later conquest of Samland was Königsberg, which was built above the valley of the Pregel. In the extreme northeast, near the outlet of the Königseshav into the Baltic, the order erected memel as a defense against the wild hordes of the robbing Samites. Starting from Kulmland the Teutonic order conquered Pommesania, Pommesania and Ermland in 1239. Its progress in the other districts seemed already to make the victory of the order sure when in 1242 the first general revolt of the Prussians broke out. The fact that also its western neighbor, Svantopoulouk of Pommes-Eln joined the insurgents and threatened to cut off its communication with Germany at times put the order in a critical position. Only a tedious war reduced the six revolted provinces to subjection again. Christianity made more rapid progress through the erection of bishoprics for Kulmland, Pommesania, Ermland and Samland. The capital of the order was the castle of Elbing where a landmaster dwelled as representative of the grandmaster who lived in Palestine. Continual conflicts went hand in hand with the slow colonization of the country through German immigrants. From the middle of the 13th century they were directed chiefly against the Samites and their southern neighbors the Lithuanians. The latter threatened the very foundations of the order once more. The victory of the Lithuanian prince Mindvok in the summer of 1261 was the signal of a new general uprising of the Prussians. The unanimity and suddenness of the revolt caused the state of the order to be overrun for the moment. It had to give up all its provinces with the exception of its most important fortresses. As its forces were insufficient to crush the uprising, Germany sent a crusading army for its support. The order founded the harder to overthrow the rebels because Mestvin, the Duke of Pommesania, made common cause with them. The German knights had fought for their existence almost a decade when the victories of the Marshal of the Order, Conrad von Thürberg, turned the scale in their favor. In 1272 Pommesania was subjugated again. To secure communication of Pommesania and Kurblend and the thoroughfare from the Vistula through the Nogat to the Havv, the order began the erection of the castle of Marienburg in 1274 on the heights above the right bank of the Nogat. But another decade was to pass before the subjugation was completed under the landmaster Mangoldt for Sternberg. The nature of the contest had almost depopulated the land. Most of the remaining people retreated to the impenetrable forests and swamps. Little fewer nobles made peace with their masters so as to retain their old possessions or receive new ones. The task of the order now consisted in introducing inhabitants into the conquered districts who might lay the basis of a new and higher civilization. This was done in various ways. Some of the German crusaders simply remained and received estates, for which they pledged themselves to perform certain military duties. Then again other German noblemen stayed on the same footing and formed a sort of provincial nobility. The peasant population had also to be revived through immigration from the west. As a general thing the order transferred enough land for the founding of a village to an agent or locator. It set the terms on which he was to proceed in dealing out this land to peasants whom he was to attract himself. In return for his labours the order gave him a manor and made him by-leave of the village. Generally these villages were ruled by the Code of Kulm. Thus the wasted land filled up with hundreds of flourishing villages whose peasants reaped rich harvests. The superfluous grain became an important article of export, most of it being sent to England. But the cities also grew under the careful administration of the order, besides the oldest towns, Torn and Kulm, many others sprang up in the 13th century and were filled with German craftsmen and merchants, who received quite extensive privileges on the basis of the Code of Kulm. Thus the Teutonic order had become the lord of the land and as such had its rights and duties, but it still preserved its old half-military half-monastic form, only that it naturally changed somewhat. This made necessary a modification of its rule, which was originally the same as that of the Templars, and though revised, about the middle of the 13th century had become unsuited for the conditions under which the order lived. It is the more wonderful, therefore, how out of the simple organization of the Teutonic order a system of government was evolved which satisfied the severest demands. The whole body of the knights henceforth were the officials who ruled the new colony. The landmaster, the commander-in-chief, the warden of the hospital, the marshal, and the treasurer became the heads of the most important branches of the administration. The whole district was divided into about twenty commander ships. The commander of the respective religious house of the order was the governor of his district, and the knights who belonged to the convent were his officials. Thus a bureaucracy sprang up beyond the Vistula, which was unique in that every ruler was a servant at the same time. This fact made the Commonwealth possible, and explains the brilliant results achieved by the rule of the order. The manner in which the order excluded the interference of the church in its affairs is also highly characteristic. It not only foiled the attempts of the Archbishop of Riga to bring Prussia under his ecclesiastical rule, but even invaded his proper sphere by its coalition with the Livonian order of the brothers of the sword. In the long run it was not compatible with the interests of the Teutonic order to have its chief seat in Palestine. In 1302 the Grandmaster Gottfried von Hochenlohe had already proposed, at a meeting of the General Chapter in Memel, the removal of the residence of the Grandmaster of the order to Prussia. When his proposal was rejected he voluntarily laid down his office, but was still considered the head of the body by the knights in Germany. In Prussia Siegfried von Feuchtwangen, Hochenlohe's chief opponent henceforth ruled the Teutonic order. Disruption was imminent, which gave the Archbishop of Riga another opportunity to attempt the expulsion of the knights from Livonia. Events had shown that Gottfried von Hochenlohe had been right. Consequently in 1309 the order resolved on the removal of the residence of its Grandmaster to Prussia. They selected Marienburg, which had the best possible location. The castle was completed to serve as an official residence. About this time the Ducal House of Pomeraine became extinct. Thereupon Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg advanced his hereditary claims to the succession, but the Teutonic order took the part of a Polish pretender against him. It conquered Danzig for its protege, but fell out with him later and drove him out of Pomeraine. Then it bought out Waldemar's claims and added this important district on the left bank of the Vistula to its territory. The order now finally ruled the lower course of the river completely, thereby it had direct communication with Germany and completely rounded off its state. End of History of Northern Europe to the beginning of the 14th century by Hans Brutz. Oscar Wilde, the aesthetic apostles first appearance in New York society. From the New York world, 6th of January 1882. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Oscar Wilde, the aesthetic apostles first appearance in New York society. Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Hayes Jr. of 112 East 25th Street held a reception yesterday afternoon in honour of Mr. Oscar Wilde. Mrs. Hayes' pretty suite of Japanese rooms furnished pleasant surroundings for the now famous apostle of English aestheticism. Their careless artistic grace must have commended them to Mr. Wilde's good opinion. Personally, Mr. Wilde, not being a Japanese young man, suggests entirely different surroundings. It is allowable to consider him in this light, since he is supposed more fully than anyone else to embody in his person his views of life, which is to say the relation of the man to his aesthetic environment. Personally Mr. Wilde suggests Greek porticoes and Doric columns, with open spaces looking towards the blue Aegean, and nearby the Venus of Milo or a chased Diana to furnish the necessary antithesis. To consider Mr. Wilde from an even more artistic point of view, he might fitly make a third of this calm group. His face is that of a colossal maiden, untroubled by heated visions, but over which at times beams a certain joyousness, holy Greek, at the sight of the largeness or beauty of nature. In its lines it is essentially feminine, but these are on so large a scale that their soft curves indicate none of the weakness which might hastily attach to the adjective. Otherwise, his broad, sturdy physique is as English as if trained in athletics instead of aesthetics. Practically Mr. Wilde accommodates himself with great amiability to the more contracted limits of modern life, at least in a foreign country, in spite of his physiognomy, and adopts without constraint the current coin of society. Not to mention with greater circumstance Mr. Wilde's personal appearance would be inconsistent with alluding to him at all. He wore a Prince Albert coat, tightly buttoned, and held in his hand a pair of light gloves. His broad collar was half hidden by his coat, though revealing a blithe blue scarf. But was not worn as low as that of Mr. Nicholas Smith, nor was his hair of greater length than the cut usually adopted by the philosophers of the Tribune. In short, his manner exhibited the unconsciousness of a gentleman, and in that respect was unlike the indigenous aesthetic, not to say asthmatic, types, with which we are familiar. The lion of the occasion, he was very appropriately lionized, towering above all the women who clustered prettily about him, and above most of the men, but roaring very gently. He expresses himself very graciously concerning our country, and evidently expects more sympathy for his views in our broader, less crystallized opinions than he has found among the British Philistines. Of these views he speaks with great seriousness, as if their earnestness lay like a burden upon him, but he expresses himself with a rhythmical fluency, which shows he has long grown used to it, and this takes the edge off one's sympathies in admiring the literary form. Mr. Wilde is enthusiastic in his admirations of others, and especially of Mr. Whistler, whom he declares to be the first painter in England, but he maliciously adds, it will take England three hundred years to find it out. In Paris, Mr. Whistler finds appreciation, is at home, but Paris is artistic, and recognizes art when it reveals itself in whatever guise. Of Mr. Whistler's infantile simplicity of character, Mr. Wilde is even more generous in praise. Such bits of conversation were tossed hither and thither among the crowd which surged about the stranger, although after yesterday the term is scarcely appropriate, and with Mr. Wilde at least, the conversation rarely dropped below a certain level, lifted into a somewhat rarer air than is usual at afternoon teas. To Mr. Wilde this seemed to be native ether, and however short-breathed were those he conversed with, the circumstances of the situation did not allow it to appear, as group affaced group before him. Wherever he moved, the crowd naturally swayed, leaving breathing room behind, following him into the dining room with well-bred curiosity, making a faint excuse over the punch-ball to see him quaff his tea. This attention the hero of the occasion received with that calm unconsciousness which distinguishes his actions, and if he perceived the agreeable impression he created, he did not let it appear. During the reception Mr. Wilde stood in the middle parlor, and back of him was a gigantic Japanese umbrella covered with grotesque figures of gaily coloured paper. The long, thick bamboo handle rested on the floor under a table at Mr. Wilde's left, and protected him on that flank. On the other side was the partition dividing the two parlours, and in the enclosure thus formed Mr. Wilde remained, like a heathen idol, most of the time between 3 and 6 p.m. Daylight was excluded from the room by heavy dark curtains, closely drawn, and heavy portiaires fell over the doors. The gas was lighted within, but it fell upon Mr. Wilde, softened, and tinged to a delicate pink by the coloured shades fastened upon the globes of the chandeliers. This rosy light softened whatever there might be of harshness in Mr. Wilde's features, and made more gentle the gentle expression of his smile. His posture was full of grace, and strongly brought to mind the pictures seen in punch, with the element of caricature, of course, left out. The rooms were filled with articles of bric-a-brac, but not a lily or sunflower or anything else supposed to be intimately connected with Mr. Wilde's philosophy was to be seen. The dresses of the ladies were not more, sad coloured, than those seen at the receptions of people who were Philistine, or indifferent. In all the rooms, conversation was carried on between groups independent of Mr. Wilde, but whatever the latter said was eagerly listened to by the groups which stood around him. The parlours and the refreshment room were crowded all the time the reception lasted. Being the company were Mrs. Hamilton Fish, Mr. Robert Garrett, Mr. and Mrs. La Trobe of Baltimore, the Reverend Dr. Henry C. Potter, the Reverend Mr. Douglas of Trinity Parish, Judge Brady, Ms. Brady, Judge Barrett, Corporation Council and Mrs. Whitney, Mrs. Beeman and the Mrs. Evarts, Mr. Alan Evarts, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Chote, Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Low, the Marquise Lanza, Mrs. Commodore Baldwin, Mrs. Carlton, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Potter, Mayor and Mrs. Grace, Mrs. Perrin Stevens, Mr. and Mrs. Canokun, Mr. J. G. Gray, Ms. Bristead, Mrs. E. J. Hawley, Mrs. Wildes, Mr. F. H. Hamlin, Mr. and Mrs. F. O. French, Mrs. Ryder, Mrs. Shack, Mrs. and Mrs. Marie, Mr. and Mrs. Ludlow Fowler, Mrs. W. L. Strong, Mr. and Mrs. H. E. Pellew, Mr. and Mrs. R. H. L. Townsend, Mrs. John H. Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Tuck, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rogers, Mrs. and the Mrs. Routh, Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Musgrave, Mrs. Wakefield, Ms. Folsom, Dr. Octavius White, Mrs. John Bigelow, Colonel and Mrs. Morse, Mrs. J. H. Draper, Mrs. George Meyer, Mrs. Trotter, Mrs. Coldon Murray, Mr. W. H. Bishop, Mrs. W. E. Rogers, Mrs. Blatchford, Judge and Mrs. Abram R. Lawrence, Mrs. John Lilly and Mrs. Mack. Mr. Wildes Abode has been kept somewhat of a secret. It is understood that this was done because a number of harmlessly insane persons wish to interview him, and his managers do not wish to have him bothered. Since his arrival he has received many invitations to social entertainments from members of rival sets of society, but he has been protected against the designs of all, and has accepted none of the invitations. This is in accordance with the desire of his managers, who stipulated that his social, as well as his lecturing engagements, should be under their control, and who, well knowing the importance of his forming only the best social connections, have so far allowed him to go nowhere except to Mr. Hazes. Mr. Wilde's agent said yesterday that Mr. Wilde was about to have published at Philadelphia a poem explaining his philosophy which he brought over from England. There are two or three things in that poem, added the agent enthusiastically, which I think will go to the very bottom of things. At this a mild shudder of mingled delight and alarm ran around the room, and agitated all the fans. At one happy moment Mr. Wilde advanced a little from the seclusion made by the rod of the Japanese umbrella and the partition, and was instantly surrounded by ladies, who stood grouped in the form of a horseshoe, with the heels of the shoe represented by Mrs. John Bigelow and the Marquise Lanza. Mrs. Bigelow, with her characteristic hospitality, took occasion to secure Mr. Wilde for dinner on Sunday evening, and the young poet, in promising to be prompt, showed that he felt that in coming to New York, he had come among a people who are hospitable and discriminating at once. End of Oscar Wilde, The Aesthetic Apostle's First Appearance in New York Society Plagerizing Aristotle From the Refutation of All Heresies by Hippolytus of Rome, 170-235 A.D. Aristotle then makes a three-fold division of substance, for one portion of it is a certain genus, and another a certain species, as that philosopher expresses it, and a third a certain individual. What is individual, however, is so not through any minuteness of body, but because by nature it cannot admit of any division whatsoever. The genus, on the other hand, is a sort of aggregate, made up of many and different terms. And from this genus, just as from a certain heap, all the species of existent things derive their distinctions, and the genus constitutes a competent cause for the production of all generated entities. In order, however, that the foregoing statement may be clear, I shall prove my position through an example, and by means of this it will be possible for us to retrace our steps over the entire speculation of the parapathetic sage. Aristotle's General Idea We affirm the existence of animal absolutely, not some animal, and this animal is neither ox, nor horse, nor man, nor god, nor is it significant of any of these at all, but is animal absolutely. From this animal, the species of all particular animals derive their subsistence, and this animality, itself the sumum genus, constitutes the originating principle for all animals produced in those particular species, and yet is not itself any one of the things generated. For man is an animal deriving the principle of existence from that animality, and horse is an animal deriving the principle of existence from that animality. The horse, and ox, and dog, and each of the rest of the animals derive the principle of existence from the absolute animal, while animality itself is not any of these. Non-entity as a cause If, however, this animality is not any of these species, the subsistence, according to Aristotle, of the things that are generated, derived its reality from non-existent entities. For animality, from whence these singly have been derived, is not any one of them, and though it is not any one of them, it has yet become someone originating principle of existing things. But who it is that has established this substance as an originating cause of what is subsequently produced? We shall declare when we arrive at the proper place of entertaining a discussion of this sort. Substance according to Aristotle, the predicates. Since, however, as I have stated, substance is threefold, namely, genus, species, and individual, and since we have set down animality as being the genus, and man the species as being already distinct from the majority of animals, but notwithstanding, still to be identified with animals of his own kind, in as much as not being yet molded into a species of realized substance. Therefore, it is that when I impart form under a name to a man derived from the genus, I style him Socrates, or Diogenus, or someone of the many denominations in use. And since in this way I repeat, I comprehend under a name the man who constitutes a species that is generated from the genus, I denominate a substance of this description individual. For genus has been divided into species, and species into individual. But as regards the individual, since it has been comprehended under a name, it is not possible that according to its own nature it could be divided into anything else, as we have divided each of the four mentioned genus and species. Aristotle, primarily and especially and preeminently, entitles this substance in as much as it cannot either be predicated of a subject or exist in a subject. He, however, predicates of the subject, just as with the genus, what I said constituted animality, and which is predicated by means of a common name of all particular animals, such as ox, horse, and the rest that are placed under this genus. For it is true to say that man is an animal, and horse an animal, and that ox is an animal, and each of the rest. Now the meaning of the expression, predicated of a subject, is this, that in as much as it is one, it can be predicated in like manner of many particulars, even though these happen to be diversified in species. For neither does horse nor ox differ from man so far forth as he is an animal. For the definition of animal is said to suit all animals alike. For what is an animal? If we define it, a general definition will comprehend all animals. For animal is an animated substance, endued with sensation. Such are ox, man, horse, and each of the rest of the animal kingdom, but the meaning of the expression, in a subject, is this, that what is inherent in anything, not as a part, it is impossible should exist separately from that in which it is. But this constitutes each of the accidents resident in substance, and is what is termed quality. Now according to this, we say that certain persons are of such a quality. For instance, white, grey, black, just, unjust, temperate, and other characteristics similar to these. But it is impossible for any one of these to subsist itself, by itself, but it must in here in something else. If, however, neither animal, which I predicate of all individual animals, nor accidents which are discoverable in all things of which they are non-essential qualities, can subsist themselves by themselves. And yet, if individuals are formed out of these, it follows therefore that the triply divided substance, which is not made up out of other things, consists of non-entities. If then, what is primarily and preeminently and particularly denominated substance consists of these. It derives existence from non-entities according to Aristotle. Aristotle's cosmogony, his psychology, his intelliggy, his theology, his ethics. Asselides follows Aristotle. But concerning substance, the statements now made will suffice. But not only is substance denominated genus, species, and individual, but also matter and form, and privation. There is, however, as regards the substance, in these no difference, even though the division be allowed to stand. Now in as much as substance is of this description, the arrangement of the world has taken place according to some such plan as the following. The world is divided, according to Aristotle, into very numerous and diversified parts. Now the portion of the world which extends from the earth to the moon is devoid of foresight, guide-less, and is under the sway of that nature alone, which belongs to itself. But another part of the world which lies beyond the moon and extends to the surface of heaven is arranged in the midst of all order, and foresight, and governance. Now the celestial superficies constitutes a certain fifth substance, and is remote from all those natural elements out of which the Cosmical System derives Consistence. And this is a certain fifth substance, according to Aristotle, as it were a certain supermundane essence. And this essence has become a logical necessity in his system in order to accord with the peripatetic division of the world. And the topic of this fifth nature constitutes a distinct investigation in philosophy, for there is extant a certain disquisition, styled a lecture on physical phenomena, in which he has elaborately treated concerning the operations which are conducted by nature and not providence, in the quarter of space extending from the earth as far as the moon. And there is also extant by him a certain other peculiar treatise on the principles of things in the region beyond the moon, and it bears the following inscription, metaphysics. And another peculiar dissertation has been written by him, entitled, Concerning a Fifth Substance, and in this work Aristotle unfolds his theological opinions. There exists some such division of the universe as we have now attempted to delineate in outline, and corresponding with it is the division of the Aristotelian philosophy. His work, however, styled Concerning the Soul, is obscure, for in the entire three books where he treats of this subject, it is not possible to say clearly what is Aristotle's opinion concerning the soul. For as regards the definition which he furnishes of soul, it is easy enough to declare this, but what it is that is signified by the definition is difficult to discover. For soul, he says, is an intelligency of a natural organic body. But to explain what this is at all would require a very great number of arguments and a lengthened investigation. As regards, however, the deity, the originator of all those glorious objects in creation, the nature of this first cause, even to one conducting his speculations by a more prolonged inquiry than that concerning the soul, is more difficult to know than the soul itself. The definition, however, which Aristotle furnishes of the deity is I admit not difficult to ascertain, but it is impossible to comprehend the meaning of it. For he says the deity is a conception of conception. But this is altogether a non-existent entity. The world, however, is incorruptible and eternal according to Aristotle, for it has in itself nothing faulty in as much as it is directed by providence and nature. And Aristotle has laid down doctrines not only concerning nature and a cosmical system and providence and God, but he has written more than this, for there is extent by him likewise a certain treatise on ethical subjects. And these he inscribes the book of ethics. But throughout these he aims at rendering the habits of his hearers excellent from being worthless. When, therefore, Basilades has been discovered, not in spirit alone, but also in the actual expressions and names, transferring the tenets of Aristotle into our evangelical and saving doctrine, what remains but that by restoring what he has appropriated from others. We should prove to the disciples of this heretic that Christ will in no wise profit them in as much as they are heathenish. Basilades, therefore, and Isidorus, the true son and disciple of Basilades, say that Matthias communicated to them secret discourses, which, being specially instructed, he heard from the Saviour. Let us then see how clearly Basilades simultaneously with Isidorus and the entire band of these heretics not only absolutely belies Matthias, but even the Saviour himself. Time was, says Basilades, when there was nothing. Not even, however, did that nothing constitute anything of existent things. But to express myself undisguisedly and candidly, and without any quibbling, it is altogether nothing. But when he says, I employed the expression was, I do not say that it was, but I speak in this way in order to signify the meaning of what I wish to elucidate, I affirm then, he says, that it was altogether nothing. For he says, that it is not absolutely ineffable, which is named so, although undoubtedly we call this ineffable, but that which is non-ineffable. For that which is non-ineffable is not denominated ineffable, but is, he says, above every name that is named. For he says, by no means for the world are these names sufficient, but so manifold are its divisions that there is a deficiency of names. I do not take it upon myself to discover, he says, proper denominations for all things. Undoubtedly, however, why not mentally, not by means of names, to conceive after an ineffable manner the peculiarities of things denominated, for an equivocal terminology, when employed by teachers, has created for their pupils confusion and a source of error concerning objects. The Basilidians in the first instance lanehold on this borrowed and furtively derived tenet from the parapetetic sage, play on the folly of those who heard together with them. For Aristotle, born many generations before Basilides, first lays down a system in the categories concerning homonymous words. And these heretics bring this system to light, as if it were peculiarly their own, and as if it were some novel doctrine, and some secret disclosure, from the discourses of Matthias. Since therefore nothing existed, I mean not matter nor substance, nor what is insubstantial, nor is absolute, nor composite, nor conceivable, nor inconceivable, nor what is sensible, nor devoid of senses, nor man, nor angel, nor god, nor, in short, any of these objects that have names, or are apprehended by sense, or that are cognized by intellect, but are thus cognized even with greater minuteness still, when all things are absolutely removed, since I say nothing existed, god, nonexistent, whom Aristotle styles conception of conception, but these Basilidians nonexistent, inconceivably, insensibly, indeterminately, involuntarily, impassively, and unactuated by desire, willed to create a world. Now I employ, he says, the expression willed, for the purpose of signifying that he did so involuntarily, and inconceivably, and insensibly. And by the expression world, I do not mean that which was subsequently formed according to breadth and division, and which stood apart, nay, far from this, for I mean the germ of a world. The germ, however, of the world had all things in itself, just as a grain of mustard comprises all things simultaneously, holding them collected together within the very smallest compass namely roots, stem, branches, leaves, and innumerable grains which are produced from the plant, as seeds again of other plants, and frequently of other still that are produced from them. In this way, nonexistent, god made the world out of non-entities, casting and depositing some one seed that contained in itself a conglomeration of the germs of the world. But in order that I may render more clearly what it is those heretics affirm, I shall mention the following illustration of theirs. As an egg of some variegated and particolored bird, for instance the peacock, or some other bird still more manifold and particolored, as the egg, I say, of such a bird though, being one in reality, contains in itself numerous forms of manifold and particolored and much compounded substances, so he says the nonexistent seed of the world, which has been deposited by the nonexistent god, constitutes at the same time the germ of a multitude of forms and a multitude of substances, and of plagiarizing Aristotle, from the refutation of all heresies. By Hippolytus of Rome, one hundred and seventy to two hundred and thirty-five A.D. Rambles About Rome, Little Journeys of Interest Around the Eternal City, by Ann Hollingsworth Wharton. This is a LibriVox recording. While LibriVox recordings are in the public domain, for more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. It may not be wise to abide by a hard and fast schedule in lands where more pleasure is often to be found in byways than in highways, but it is well to have some definite plan for each day, especially in Rome, where the best may sometimes be overlooked amid the tempting distractions that meet one at every turn. We usually made our plans for the day at breakfast, which was served in our own parlor, because the paterfamilius of the party had an unconquerable aversion to the cheerless breakfast table at the Sal Amongé. Travelers' plans naturally depend much upon the weather, and we had become epicurean as to weather, having had the good fortune in the course of our journeys to encounter a succession of springs. Landing upon the island of Madeira in February, we found the mountain sides curtained by the rich purple bougainvillea, although snow still lingered upon the summits. As we ascended the heights behind Funchal, upon which the cathedral stands, we were pelted with roses and japonicas by the children, who followed the train, hoping for a few pennies in return for their floral tributes. On our way back to the town, through precipitous streets and sledges peculiar to Madeira, we were feasted upon delicious wild strawberries from the mountain nearby. In Granada, although the mountain air was keen, the February sun was so warm that in the gardens of the Alhambra Roses, like those of June, were filling the air with their delicate fragrance. While in southern Italy, the fields and road sides were carpeted with narcissus, cyclamen, English daisies and American wildflowers. Here in Rome, during March, we have had fitful glimpses of spring in the hillside garden upon which our windows open, and upon the sheltered terrace below the Pincian hill where carnations and roses bloom abundantly. But it was not until April and Easter time that we fully realized the joyous awakening of the spring. After a fortnight of clouds and rain, the sun shone forth gaily, and every leaf and blossom in Rome seemed to spread itself forth to bask in the genial warmth, and every inhabitant was out of doors, forestieri and peasants crowding the narrow sidewalks of the Corso. Dark-eyed women were to be seen on all sides, some of them with babies in their arms, sitting on church steps or sunning themselves and their bambini on the Spanish steps, which were like a flower garden in these April days. With all nature rejoicing over the return of spring, it seemed the part of wisdom to listen to the general voice and turn from galleries and churches to wander in the open. The Borghese Garden with its shaded paths and green sward dotted with many flowers is as tempting now as when Hawthorne described Miriam and Donatello dancing under the elixirs and stone pines. No lovelier spot could be found in which to spend a spring afternoon in this palace garden with its shaded avenues and picturesque fountains, unless we chose to stroll over to the Pincio where many flowers were blooming and where the band plays gaily to the rich in their carriages and with equal gaiety to the poor on foot or seated on the wooden chairs placed conveniently near the music stand which can be hired for a soldo or two. Looking forth upon all Rome from the commanding heights of the Pincio with the incomparable castle of St. Angelo and the Tiber in the foreground and the more distant St. Peter's and the Geniculum Hill standing out sharply against the sapphire sky we are not inclined to echo Geertje's words written more than a hundred years ago. I am perfectly convinced that no city of the ancient world was worse situated than Rome. Since the days when Geertje wrote his impressions of the eternal city from that little house still standing on the Corso near its opening out into the Piazza del Popolo and also near a place dear to weary sightseers, the little English tea rooms much of ancient Rome as risen from the depths of the earth. Ruins of ancient palaces have taken the place of the luxuriant growth of vines and flowers that long covered the Forum and a new beautiful and gay Rome has spread itself forth in wide streets and gardens over in the Veneto quarter. It seems now as if no city could have been better situated than this Rome upon her seven hills with water dashing and gushing from her many fountains in the valley between. When Geertje was in Rome and even when Mr. WW's story wrote in 1856 of its long, damp, narrow, dirty streets, the new city, the creation of King Victor Emanuel and his successor had not yet arisen and the Campania, which is now like a garden dotted with wild flowers and glorified by the blossoms of peach, almond and Judas trees, was much of it a pestilential marsh. We realized what a change had been wrought by the draining of the marshes when we walked out to the Tray Fontaine one afternoon. As our way lay through the Porto San Paolo, we stopped at the great Basilica of the Apostle whose name it bears, a noble monument, the vastness of whose interior impressed us even more than that of St. Peter's. Although still unfinished, this church with its columns of Oriental alabaster, its rich malachite pedestals, the gift of a Russian emperor and its transept glorified by portrait medallions of all the popes is worthy of several visits instead of the brief one made by us on this lovely spring afternoon when the charms of the Campania were calling us into the open. The cloisters of St. Paul's we thought especially beautiful and only excelled by the exquisite arches and columns of the Lateran. A road leading to the Tray Fontaine turns off to the left a little way beyond San Paolo and a few yards from the gates of Rome we found ourselves upon a country road bordered by green meadows. The portion of the Campania through which our way lay for about two miles is no longer deserted as earlier travelers have described it, but is dotted here and there with farmhouses and gardens around which troops of pretty dark-eyed children were at play, but not so busily that they were unwilling to pause in their games to accept a soldo or a bit of chocolate from the restiary whom they eyed furtively. Passing by an ancient fort and descending some hillocks we reached a gate which admitted us to an avenue of eucalyptus trees through which we finally gained the celebrated Abadia della Tray Fontaine, originally a Cistercian monastery. Whether the present healthfulness of this place which was at one time abandoned on account of the prevailing malaria is due to the planting of the eucalyptus trees or to the general draining of the marshes and the vigorous war urged against the mosquitoes we know not. The gardens and buildings under the judicious cultivation and care of the trappists who occupy the premises now wear a look of thrift and as much comfort as befits a monastery. We were told that huge cans of milk were sent to Rome every morning as well as hampers and vegetables from the monastery garden. For some reason perhaps because of this profusion of native products and the subtle charm of this lovely spot in its spring beauty, the extreme austerity of the trappist's life with its motto le plaisir de mourir son pen vo bien la peine de vivre son plaisir. Did not impress us as it might have done had we visited the Tray Fontaine on a bleak dinners day. Neither did the silence which in the order weigh upon our spirits. In the church of San Paolo Ale Tray Fontana a young monk was explaining the legend for which the place is celebrated to some students who drank in the story reverently. The most interesting of the three churches that of San Paolo Ale Tray Fontaine is built over the spot where St. Paul is said to have been beheaded. The legend is that the head of the apostle made three distinct leaps and wherever it touched the ground a fountain gushed forth. A service was being held in the church and the monks were singing a low monotonous chant. Among the voices we noticed one that of a young monk which was very beautiful. Later when we met the singer in the grounds he asked us most ingenuously how we liked his singing and was frankly pleased with our praise as he proved by sending some of the acolytes to gather huge clusters of wisteria and neapolitan roses for us to which he added some branches of eucalyptus which has a pungent aromatic odor. When we finally quitted the Tray Fontaine after buying several bottles of eucalyptus cordial made by the monks and sold in their little pharmacy the shadows were dark in the eucalyptus dove and an indescribably delicate and lovely purple mist was floating over the Campania. Had we been tempting Providence by lingering so late in this once pestilential spot perhaps and yet we have so often been guilty of this sort of imprudence without serious results that we have come to the conclusion that danger that way like many other traditions belongs exclusively to the past and that the Roman Campania that sunset is as healthful as most other low-lying lands at that hour. Another pleasant afternoon ramble is to the geniculum hill to see the fine equestrian statue of Garibaldi. From the commanding plateau upon which the statue is situated we could see all Rome with their 400 churches more or less distant and below us quite near the Trastivari bounded by the windings of the Tiber. On our way home we stopped at St. Peter's in Montorio in which interesting old church is the tomb of beautiful, unhappy Beatrice Censi. We had seen her fair girlish portrait at the Barbarini Palace and the little cell at the castle of St. Angelo in which it was painted and we naturally wished to see the tomb. It is unmarked however and not particularly impressive and we were glad to wend our way to the church of Montofrio where is the tomb of Tasso, his statue and some remains of the great oak under whose shade he wrote his Jerusalem delivered. Here we sat on the semicircular seats where the Arcadian Academy formerly held its meetings and wandered among the Cypresses where Tasso once walked looking forth as he must often have looked upon the city of many domes framed in by the Sabine and Albin hills now touched and glorified by the rosy eight glow of the setting sun. End of Rambles About Rome by Anne Hollingsworth Wharton. Read by Betty B. Robert Fulton. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. This recording by Avahi in January 2020. Robert Fulton. From the Scientific American Volume 2, Issue 1, September 1846 edited by Rufus Porter. Robert Fulton, a celebrated engineer whose name is connected with steamboat navigation was born in the town of Little Britain in the state of Pennsylvania in 1765. His genius disclosed itself at an early period. He was attracted to the shops of mechanics and at the age of seven he painted landscapes and portraits in Philadelphia. Thus he was enabled in part to purchase a small farm for his widowed mother. At the age of 21 he, by the advice of his friends, repaired to London to place himself under guidance of Mr West, the painter, and by him was kindly received and admitted as an inmate of his house for several years. Prosecuting his business as painter he spent two years in Devonshire where he became acquainted with the Duke of Bridgewater and with Lord Stanhope, well known for his attachment to the mechanic arts. In 1793 he engaged in the project of improving inland navigation and in 1796 he obtained patents for a double inclined plane and for machines for spinning flags and making ropes. The subject of canals now chiefly occupied his attention and at this period in 1796 his work on canals was published. In his profession of civil engineer he was greatly benefited by his skill in drawing and painting. He went to Paris in 1797 and being received into the family of Joel Barlow he there spent seven years studying chemistry, physics and mathematics and acquiring a knowledge of the French, Italian and German languages. In December 1797 he made his first experiment on submarine explosion in the Seine but without success. His plan for a submarine boat was afterwards perfected. In 1801 while he was residing with his friend Mr Barlow he met in Paris Chancellor Livingston, the American minister, who explained to him the importance in America of navigating boats by steam. Mr Fulton had already conceived the project as early as 1793 as appears by his letter to Lord Stanhope. He now engaged anew in the affair and at the common expense of himself and Mr Livingston built a boat on the Seine in 1803 and successfully navigated the river. The principle of the steam engine he did not invent. He claimed only the application of that machine to waterwheel for propelling vessels. In 1806 he returned to America. He and Mr Livingston built in 1807 the first boat, the Clermont 130 feet in length which navigated the Hudson at the rate of five miles an hour. Nothing could exceed the surprise and admiration of all who witnessed the experiment. The minds of the most incredulous were changed in a few minutes. Before the boat had made the progress of a quarter of a mile the greatest unbeliever must have been converted. The man who, while he looked on the expensive machine, thanked his stars that he had more wisdom than to waste his money on such idle schemes changed the expression of his features as the boat moved from the wharf and gained her speed and his complacent expression gradually softened into one of wonder. The jeers of the ignorant who had neither sense nor feeling to suppress their contemptuous ridicule and rude jokes were silenced for a moment by a vulgar astonishment which deprived them of the power of utterance till the triumph of genius extorted from the incredulous multitude which crowded the shores, shouts and acclimations of congratulation and applause. In February 1809 he took out his first patent. In 1811 and 1812 he built two steam ferry boats for crossing the Hudson. He contrived also a very ingenious floating dock for the reception of those boats. In 1813 he obtained a patent for a submarine battery. Conceiving the plan of a steam man of war the government in March 1814 appropriated $320,000 for constructing it and appointed him the engineer. In about four months she was launched with the name of Fulton I but before this frigate was finished Fulton had paid the debt of nature. End of Robert Fulton from the Scientific American Vol. 2, Issue 1, September 1846